Sdemon53

The big question I would like answered is the legality of this investigation.

Will it stand up in court for individuals and the club?

What about the clubs that have taked the same action in different ways but got the same result?

I hope the club will stand behind the so called 12 individuals as well as defend itself.

The article vindicates the selection process by the Football Department which is a charge from previous years. Some may question the Terlich and Jones rating but when you consider their form during 2012 it is logical. It would not surprise me to see all 5 players we selected in the draft play during the 2013 season.

Viney and Toumpas are probably a certainty for round 1 with Terlich a good chance as well. The pre-season is going to be extremely important for us to see what the culture is with this player group after 15 changes to the list.

What rule or regulation of the AFL has the Melbournsfc transgressed???

Be blowed if I can find anything.

From a legal standing the AFL has not got anything to hang their sanctions on from what I can see.

JAMES HIRD SELECTION 79

Tassie Johnson

Gary Hardeman

Don Williams

Laurie Fowler

Doc Roet

Trevor Rollinson

Alan Johnson

West Coast did a brilliant job letting out misinformation on Jack Darling, and it worked for them.

The other big question was if Melbourne had done their research properly they should have taken Shaun Atley. Shaun is going to be one of the best fast running players in the AFL. A type of player we need.

However Jack Darling should have been taken if they had checked out all the rumours it would have been a different story. The only problem with this is would Darling have performed for us like he has for West Coast. I have a feeling NO.

Has the club handled Cook in the correct way to get the best out of him. He certainly has ability and the size to be an AFL player, and yes he has had injury problems but he should have progressed more than he has. In fact he seems to have gone backwards.

What do we do? I suggest we hang on to him if he is physically sound for 2 more seasons and really work on him. If we let him go we could find that with another club he could turn out to be the player we wanted.

NOPE

Ratten in Royal out more like.

I was thinking the same thing myself. It must be remembered that Ratten was at Melbourne and did an excellent job. However the big question here is,would Neeld like to have Ratten at the club?

Simple answer to the question is TV BROADCASTING RIGHTS.

Reducing the number of games would mean less money.

Yes Sam Stynes is a very "SPECIAL" lady for a Melbournefc great and a man of character and community strength.

But Sam do not mention the book on Demonland as they do not want it promoted on here. As Garry Lyon said at the book launch every Melbourne person should have a copy.

So Sam do not mention the book even though you probably helped produce it and went through hell reliving the memories.

Of course it's perfectly acceptable. Who could be critical of supporters barracking for them or considering them "ours" ?

Although I don't and they're not Melbourne's team. They're just irrefutable facts.

What a load of rubbish. Get your facts straight.

If Casey is not Melbourne's team in the VFL who is? Is it still Sandringham? No they are St.Kilda's team. Is it Frankston? No they are a stand alone team.

Gee 'Ben-Hur' you have got me stumped. It appears that if Casey is not 'OUR SIDE' then we do not have one in the VFL.

I think I know the problen Ben-Hur you do not have a Melbournefc membership so therefore your do not have a membership of the Casey Scorpions.

No, Collingwood and Geelong have their sides. Melbourne don't.

Let's not derail though, Kid.

Thanks for calling me Kid. However I look more like a grandfather.

Yes there should be an AFL Reserves. However the interestate sides do not want it.

So therefore we are stuck with a VFL come reserve grade setup of AFL and VFL alignment sides with a few stand alone sides plus Collingwood and Geelong. You could say it is a bit of a mess. But Vlad and his mates have deemed it so.

Casey's side. I don't even barrack for Casey in the VFL, although I like them to do well.

Yes 'OUR SIDE' and if you do not barrack for it tough tities. Casey is still 'OUR SIDE'.

Greatfully appreciated getting your updates of 'OUR SIDE' KC.

Unfortunately I do not think that Jack Watts has a clue how to play AFL footy. He should be sent back to Casey and told to improve his game. At the moment he seems to be more of a liability rather than an asset.

I am not all that sure Jack really wants to be an AFL footballer. He has the ability but it seems not the desire. In some ways he reminds me of David Cordner although David suffered from being injured most of the time. Cordner like Jack was great at junior level kicking 117 goals in a season in the under 19s.

LJ tells Neeld he needs another week?? WHAT???? How can he not be fit enough??????

WTF?? He has had a wrist injury. And been running for months..

This is bizarre in the extreme, Surely he can canter around in the Casey team and he would still beat everyone there?? I don't get it.

Very fishy to me.

I agree, however I think it is rather weak that he is not told to run around in the reserves to see how he goes. Surely he could be managed through the match. Even if he played for half the game it would be better that none. Liam may be down on confidence, so he he needs a firm hand. Which not making him play even worse. After all he is a well paid employee of the club not an amateur.

Lets hope he is not turning into another Austin Wonaeamirri. The only way Liam is going to get into the AFL team is by match fitness with Casey. In effect he will be out for 2 weeks as the Casey Reserves have a bye next weekend. So therefore it is once again showing that Melbournefc cannot manage its players properly. Who is running the Football Department the players or the coaches and support staff. At the moment by the way the players are playing plus this Liam Jurrah no show I would say the players are calling the shots.

I know it is history but would Norm Smith or 'Checker' Hughes put up with this rubbish? Mark Neeld has now shown himself to be of a very weak character. It soulds as though the footy department thought Liam could play this weekend so Neeld should have backed them up.

It looks like if we want to have Liam Jurrah on our list we need to keep him out of the NT. But I have a feeling we may be fighting a battle we can not win.

Yes it is looking like dodgy bros country to me.

Compo picks aren't used on FS. So we have to use our first "normal" pick after another team bids. So if we finish 16th say GWS or GC (17th & 18th) will have to bid for him with pick 1 or 2 for us to have to use our first round pick. However seeing as though we have already committed to him and signed a contract it would be pretty stupid of them not to put a bid in.

What happens if somehow we finish last without a win for the season?

Can we use our 2nd round selection for Jack Viney? Also would we get a priority pick straight after our 2nd round pick?

Would it be - 1, 2, 13, first second round pick(Jack Viney), then a priory pick.

It would be worthwhile Neeld thinking about it with a very deep draft this year.

Just a thought.

The other question is what do we do with Jack this season? It seems to be clear as mud with what GWS and the Gold Coast can do. If we are 17th can Sheedy put a bit in for him knowing that Jack is contracted to us? However if GWS does not make a bid or we finish last Jack Viney slides down to our last selection in the draft.

Look this may sound crazy but 10-12 players away not so sure.

I will start with the midfiled because once that is sorted out we will improve dramatically

In desperate need of 2 quality mids with slick skills, Trengove, Jones & Magner will be complimented by this & Gysberts when his body grows will be a vital cog The better skills will see better delivery to our forwards. Also have only seen videos of Viney but mostly highlight reels looks hard at it should be an asset loved his father and hope he is as good. As a whole they need to work on their running power to spread, and provide options/support to teamates

Defence - They have the makings of a good unit Frawley however looks down on confidence and if we can sort out the m. 1 half back to break the lines with speed if Blease is prepared to do the hard yards on the track this is his role if not trade him. Finishing piece is somone with penetrating kick to take prssure off and make quick breaks on the counter, do we have this in Strauss and Tappy, not sure. The defence is not that bad IMO yesterday showed they struggle when they looked up they either had to try and run it out getting into trouble or bomb it long where it would come straight back in. I believe this could be solved with improvements as suggested abobe re midfield

.

Forward - The forward set up will be improved with a quality crumber and improvement in the midfield delivery

Ruck - Martin, Gawn, Fitzy to take over from Rush is that enough if not target a ruckman from another club not getting enough game time like Sydney did with Jolly, who is out there Bellchambers, Zac Clarke, Griffen

So although it doesn't look it at the moment I'd say 4 or 5 players away

What I am saying is that we (for Biffen we means us MELBOURNEfc) need 10 - 12 players that can win the ball through the centre. That includes players off the half back line and the half forward line as well as the middle. At the moment we have about 4. They would be Magner, Trengove, Jones and McKenzie. So therefore we need to find another 6 - 8 players either still on our list or via the draft. One being Jack Viney and also Billy Stretch via father/son.

FRANKSTON Player #14

Mitchell BOSWARD 24/06/88 180cm 85kg

KC - I am really looking forward to your usual incisive review when you get time.

So was Cook injured during the game or a withdrawal?

Crouch?

Tappy?

When was Cook in the side?

The first match proved it and now the second match of the season has reinforced the fact that we have very few players that are up to it through the guts of the ground. We only have 4 players at best that can play through the middle of the ground at a real competitive level.

A top team needs 10-12 players to be successful. The Eagles had them by the truckload.

We need to draft players this year that play in the middle of the ground. I understand that this coming draft is full of them. We need players that can run and use the ball effectively.

Unless we are competitive through the middle of the ground our backs and forwards will be fighting an uphill battle.

Neeld can have whatever game plan he likes. But it will not work unless he has the players that can make it work.

Looking at the list I fear we do not have nowhere near enough of them.

Yes we have Viney coming. But he needs a lot of others to come with him as well.

The big test for Neeld will be the 2012 DRAFT. He needs to get the right young/older players.

Who are the players that did not play on our list that could be developed into running players that we need. That includes half-back players as well as half forwards that can run the ball into the forward line.

It all goes beyond the matches we have played this season so far. The situation we have is that we need to basically start again and work out what players we need to be successful.

We have to look at the players on our list now and work out who can develop into what we need and those that will not be the type of player we need. The club needs to be ruthless and not be soft at the end of the season.

I have thrown my rose coloured glasses in the bin and now look at the team differently.

Any thoughts on players coming up in the draft that we could look at?

PLEASE NOTE

This thread has got nothing to do with the Eagles thread as it is a thread trying to look for what is wrong and what we have got to do with the team to win a premiership.

The first match proved it and now the second match of the season has reinforced the fact that we have very few players that are up to it through the guts of the ground. We only have 4 players at best that can play through the middle of the ground at a real competitive level.

A top team needs 10-12 players to be successful. The Eagles had them by the truckload.

We need to draft players this year that play in the middle of the ground. I understand that this coming draft is full of them. We need players that can run and use the ball effectively.

Unless we are competitive through the middle of the ground our backs and forwards will be fighting an uphill battle.

Neeld can have whatever game plan he likes. But it will not work unless he has the players that can make it work.

Looking at the list I fear we do not have nowhere near enough of them.

Yes we have Viney coming. But he needs a lot of others to come with him as well.

The big test for Neeld will be the 2012 DRAFT. He needs to get the right young/older players.

The truth is that we as a club have not been ruthless in our desire to be successful.

You could not get better than Norm Smith and Jim Cardwell. Along with a board in the 1950's that supported them.

If we go from 2001 we have had boards that was not up to the job until Jym Stynes and his board came along. However the damage had been done which Dennis Cometti has pointed out in the draft selections.

However the change has happened with the 2011 draft. We have Mitch Clark, Rory Taggert, James Sellar, Tom Couch, James Magner and Leigh Williams. All these players selected are solid players. With Clark, Sellar, Couch and Magner having some sort of effect in the pre-season.

The other factor we have to remember is that in 2003 there was dirty big Xmas bells ringing when we finished 14th. Daniher offered his resignation if my memory is correct. Paul Gardner and the board would not accept it. Pity we did not have a board that wanted success and took the resignation and then the attitude that Hawthorn did. In 2003/2004 we had some players with currency that we could have traded and maybe got some of the top drafts that would have given us a better chance.

One factor here we all have to understand is that who ever is managing the recruitment of players is also influenced by the coaching staff, mainly the senior coach. So we must remember there is many aspects in selecting a player. What we need is the correct formula for selection which gives us the players that is needed to field a side that can more than hold its own against all other sides in the AFL. Result being a premeirship.

I would celebrate with all the past players that played for Melbourne in heaven.

I was 11 when we last won a premiership, however I have no doubt I will not be around when we win the next one. Even if I live to 100 years of age.

If however they by per chance of a miracle win a premiership in the next 40 years. I would probably faint, then watch the replay to make sure I was not dreaming. Then I do not know what I would do.

Rumour going around we have signed china airlines as our major sponser???

What is Energy Watch sponsorship wise??? I thought that they took over from the Hankook/Kaspersky sponsorship. My mail is that Energy Watch are paying us a lot more than Hankook/Kaspersky did per season.

If we can land China Airlines it will show a certain Eddie moron that we can play with the big boys.

Vearing, Jungwirth, Catlin, Dowsing from the fabulous 1966 season. In fact what happened to the whole team did they slip through a wormhole in space. Also what happened to our premiership ruckman, Graham Wise...

The last time I spoke to Graham he was up in Albury. He had or has a motel (the Fountain Court Motor Inn in David Street) near Sodens Hotel. As he is now 69 I would suggest that he no longer has the motel . There is a G L Wise in North Albury which could be him. The Melbourne Past Players would probably know. I can not remember the secretaries full name but he is the father of Linda Pearce the Age tennis writer. Give Lynda Carroll a call at the club and she might know where and what Graham Wise is doing these days.

Moloney isn't smart enough, nor a good enough communicator.

That is your opinion.

We need a captain that can walk the walk and lead the team by his actions on the field.

Come to think about it how would you describe David Neitz Mr Lutz?

I have no doubt that Brent Moloney would lead the team in the same way as David Neitz did. The good thing is that David could help Brent with how to be a very effective captain.

To be blunt it would be madness to appoint Jack Trengove as captain as he is still growing as an AFL player.

I have a feeling that Brent Moloney would fit into the type of captain that Neeld would want. Plus I have a gut feeling being captain would not effect the way he plays as it had with Brad Green.

What worries me with Green is that result in Geelong. I have no doubt that a Melbourne team with Brent Moloney as captain would not put in such a limp wristed performance. Or should I say protest performance.